U.S. Air Force Pays Record Amount for Baby Injured in Government Hospital

... WASHINGTON May 9 /- The U.S. Air Force has paid a fa...Aubrey Duckworth was born on September 4 2004 at the U.S. NavalHospi...Most of the settlement money will go into a trust to pay Aubrey'smedi...Aubrey's parents Lindsey and William Duckworth brought a claim under...

WASHINGTON, May 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force has paid a family
$5 million for severe brain damage suffered by a baby during childbirth at
a military hospital. The amount is a record sum for government settlement
payments to children who suffered brain damage because of the negligence of
government employees, according to what Air Force attorneys told the
family's attorneys.

Aubrey Duckworth was born on September 4, 2004 at the U.S. Naval
Hospital, Okinawa, Japan. Her mother's uterus ruptured during the birthing
process, depriving the baby of oxygen for a prolonged time. Aubrey suffers
from spastic cerebral palsy and blindness. She is fed through a surgical
tube implanted in her stomach.

Most of the settlement money will go into a trust to pay Aubrey's
medical and nursing bills, which are expected to be high because she needs
round-the-clock nursing attention.

Aubrey's parents, Lindsey and William Duckworth, brought a claim under
the Military Claims Act alleging that the nurse midwife, Laura A. Bennett,
who attended Lindsey's labor and delivery was grossly negligent and guilty
of malpractice for trying to manage a complex and high-risk delivery by
herself without calling in an obstetrician. Mrs. Duckworth had previously
had a cesarean section for her first baby, and Aubrey's birth was set up as
a "VBAC" -- vaginal birth after cesarean. According to independent
obstetrician experts who reviewed the childbirth records, Nurse Bennett, in
response to the baby's failure to descend in the birth canal, repeatedly
increased the dosage of a drug to stimulate uterine contractions -- Pitocin
or oxytocin -- despite warning signs that the uterus was overly stimulated.
The uterus eventually ruptured, cutting off oxygen to the fetus through the
placenta. Nurse Bennett called an obstetrician to the scene only after the
uterus ruptured. Aubrey then was delivered by an emergency cesarean
section, but it was too late to prevent her brain injury.

The Duckworths now live in Benton, Louisiana. William Duckworth manages
a golf course and Lindsey Duckworth teaches in an elementary school.

The parents' attorney, Patrick Malone of Patrick Malone & Associates,
P.C., Washington, D.C., filed an administrative claim with the Navy in
2005. It took the Navy and Air Force two and one-half years to decide the
claim. The Air Force was involved because under federal regulations, it had
"single service authority" over injury claims at all U.S. government
facilities in Japan.

"This money in no way makes up for the terrible and unnecessary tragedy
that happened to the Duckworths," Malone said. "We hope that this will help
encourage military hospitals to be more vigilant in how they manage
childbirth and especially VBAC's, which have a known risk for catastrophic
injury to the baby when not monitored properly."

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